124 Days
by Julissa Sora
Summary: 124 days were all Furihata had to find his soul mate that he had zero idea who the other person was. AU where people were given a specific amount of time to find their respective soul mate. After the time passed, the chances of meeting one will get low and won't even meet in some cases. And Furihata was a sucker for things like soul mate and red thread that he would do anything to
1. Prologue

**124** **Days**

 **Anime: Kuroko no Basket**

 **Rating:**

 **Genre: Yaoi, Romance**

 **Pairing: AkaFuri**

 **Warning: Not beta-edited. English is not my mother tongue. There'll be a lot of grammatical and spelling errors so prepare for it.**

 **Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket is so not mine. If it were, AkaFuri would definitely get a lot of screen time and lovey dovey moments. Yeah, I'm frustrated. AkaFuri moments are seriously needed.**

 **Summary: 124 days were all Furihata had to find his soul mate that he had zero idea who the other person was. AU where people were given a specific amount of time to find their respective soul mate. After the time passed, the chances of meeting one will get low and won't even meet in some cases. And Furihata was a sucker for things like soul mate and red thread that he would do anything to find his special one in 124 days.**

His heart stung. It made his chest hurt. He winced. But he could not turn back. The mark on his skin felt like it was burning. He looked at the crowd before him. Too many people. How would he find the right one? The automatic doors were closing before his eyes. The train started to move. He wanted to scream. One word, just one word was enough so that the person would hear him. He desperately looked out the glass window. He stiffed. It was just a mere second, but he felt. He felt that their eyes met. Red! He saw only for a moment but those eyes were red. The same piercing stare he dreamt before lingered on him a bit then the train accelerated. His legs finally gave out. He cried while crouching on the train floor. Other people gave him weird looks, but he did not care. He was finally able to meet his soul mate, even it was just for a second. He thanked the god for letting him see the other person before his searching period was over.

 _Farewell, my soul mate._

124 Days


	2. November

**_November_**

Many might not know, but Furihata Kouki was a very romantic person at heart. He was always such a sucker for tooth-rottenly sweet romantic things. He watched chick flicks, read shoujo manga and go giddy every time he found something romantic. And he blamed his mother and sister for it. However, he pretended not to look like a love-struck teenage girl on the outside. Well, he's a high school boy and he had the so called dignity he needed to protect.

His family was a fairly normal and modern family. Although the fact that his mother met his father during their soul mate searching period was something extraordinary for the family. His mother kept telling the siblings how lucky to marry your true soul mate and it was the ultimate god blessing. When one reached the age of eighteen, he or she received a limited amount of time to find the soul mate. And it was called the soul mate searching period. Not everyone had the same amount of time. Some had a long period of time, while some had short one. But in this modern society, it was not uncommon that people did not give much care about the soul mate. Many people just married someone who was not their soul mate. Only the traditional families followed the rules like seeking out the soul mate and lived happily ever after. But this was Furihata Kouki we were talking and he was very romantic to the point that he was so determined to find his soul mate no matter what.

Here at the moment, just a few hours before his eighteenth birthday, Furihata felt like his heart was going to explode. He had been wondering how many days he would get to find his soul mate since he was so little. How would be the other person? Would she be a pretty person? Or a smart one? Or was it even a she? It was common to have same sex soul mate. It was one of the facts people usually did not marry their soul mate, but for Furihata, whether they were a boy or a girl, he would embrace them with love. Questions after questions flooded into his mind that he became dizzy. He stared at his wrist, the left one, where a set of numbers would appear when the clock stroke twelve to indicate his soul mate searching period. It would reduce as days went by in a countdown system, eventually ending up in '0'. He kept staring and before he knew it, he dozed off.

 **It was a very pretty scenario. Long brown hairs were flowing in air. The sun was setting, embracing the whole world in warm light. It could rival a scene out of a romantic movie. Furihata reached out to touch the brown hairs. The strings of hairs felt rougher than he imagined. Wait… He looked at carefully. The hairs he was touching were not just any hairs. They were manes. In fact, a lion's manes. The lion looked at him with strange keen eyes. The look was so piercing that he felt like his whole body and mind were going to explode. He pulled a step back and fell. He closed his eyes on instinct and when he opened them again, he was staring at the night lamp on his desk.**

"What the heck? Did I fell asleep? A dream?" He murmured. It was sure a weird dream. He did not usually dream much or maybe he just did not remember. But he could still remember the dream in precise. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and reached for the water pitcher on the desk. A faint shimmer on his wrist reflected the light as he pulled out his hand. He froze. He gazed at the mark which was not on his wrist a few hours ago. On his lightly tanned skinned, a mild bronze-colored numbers were tattooed, indicating a simple three digits '124'.

He blinked again and again and looked at the numbers again. He was not mistaking. The numbers on his wrist indeed said '124'. He could not believe at all. He only got 124 days! Only mere four months! He remembered his dad got more than three years for the period and his mom got about a year since she was two years younger than him. And here he got 124 days, which was going to be over in a blink of time. Maybe his soul mate was older than him and they might get to see each other very soon. The shorter the period, the better. Furihata cheered himself. He had been dying to meet his precious one and the fact that he could meet him in four months would be great. He repeated himself. However, it was very strange that most people as least have half a year so his period was surprisingly short if he had to say.

 _Wait a minute!_ He screamed inside his head. The dream he had earlier, was the second clue in find his soul mate? Contradictory to popular believes like the soul mate's name appearing on one body, they had a very hard time in searching their soul mate. People often got dreams concerning with the soul mate during the period. Sometime, they felt something strange if their soul mate were near them. The soul mark would react, like getting hot or glowing light, if one touched his or her soul mate. It was indeed quite a trial that many people would not bother to find their soul mate.

 _Don't tell me my soul mate is a lion?_ He panicked.

 _Maybe the other person is a zookeeper? Or a lion trainer like in the circus?_ It was so confusing. And the lion's stare was really strange. It kept giving him goose bumps whenever he remembered it. The dream was so focus on the lion that it can really be the person had a lion related job. Chances that the lion was representing his soul mate were high. He sighed. That person might quite scary, given that the lion was also quite frightening. He shook his head. He determined that no matter who the other person was, he would care and love him or her. A factor of scariness would not make him back down.

"I'll find you," he murmured, "for sure."

124 Days

"Furi, can't you look a bit more relaxed?" Fukuda complained at his fidgeting friend. The mentioned brunette was eyeing each and every person who walked passed with great intensity.

"But one of them could be my soul mate?" Furihata said, without removing his eyes from moving people. "It's already fifth day into my period and I still haven't got anything except that dream." His grip on the paper coffee cup tighten. "124 days, guys! That's all I have. Yet, I got nothing!" He sighed.

From day one, he had been keeping keen eyes on every person who appeared before, but he felt nothing. His soul mark would not react. He had high hopes because he had relatively short days for his period. He spent his first four days going around the school ground in case if the other person went to the same school as his. Now, he started touring any zoo around Tokyo to find someone related to a lion. And Fukuda and Kawahara, being his best friends, were dragged around by an overly eager and frustrated Furihata. He searched online for any circus that will be performing during his period. He knew his pocket money would be all spent just from going all those zoos and circuses but he could not give up. His soul mate was on stake. What was more important than his soul mate at the moment? Nothing.

"Furihata-kun is being very impatient," Kuroko told him the other evening. "Sometime, you need to learn to wait for good things to come you. I believe soul mates are meant to meet, not to search. And that's the problem with the modern society, they don't wait, they search, ending up in failure." Furihata had never known Kuroko was also who had a strong believe in soul mates. He knew his friend's logic sounded acceptable, but he could not listen to his advice. His mind was so focus on meeting his beloved one before the time ran out. He looked away from the busy crowd and gazed at the bright blue sky.

 _Please God, give me more clues, even one is enough so that I can figure out who my soul mate is._

124 Days

 **Julissa: I did my second attempt on AkaFuri as it's my OTP. (The first one, 'the Emperor and the Pauper' is on hiatus and I've got no motivation to fix it or rewrite it.) I've always wanted to do a soul mate fic which I personally enjoy reading.**

 **I might be being a bit cruel since I decided that I'd be updating this bimonthly or something along the line when I'm already writing the second to last chapter. I want to upload the final chapter on 12** **th** **of April (AkaFuri Day). Forgive me for being such a selfish person.**

 **Anyway, please read, review or add favorite and follow. You can ask me anything that's unclear. If you've already read 'Too Cute to Resist', you know I always reply all of your questions in next chapters. Enjoy! I hope we can see each other again in next chapter!**


	3. December

_**December**_

 **Pale cherry blossoms danced around him. It was a clear blue day. A perfect day for flower viewing. He admired the cherry blossoms. As a Japanese person, he could not help but appreciate the pale flowers. However, the atmosphere felt very lonely as if it was containing a very old memory.**

He woke up. His heart was racing. Droplets of sweats soaked on his shirt, even though he left the air conditioning on. His mark was shining. Another clue. Finally he had gotten another clue. It was already third week of his period. He grabbed his phone and opened the calendar. Cherry blossoms meant it was going to be in March. If he was not wrong, his period would end on the 11th of March next year. He would make it to a flower viewing festival, if cherry blossoms bloomed early next year. Would he meet his soul mate at a flower viewing? But which flowering viewing? There would be thousands of flower viewing festivals in Japan once the cherry blossoms started to bloom. He was first happy because he got another clue, but was down again because there were too many unsolved meanings behind all those clues.

124 Days

"Furi, I heard you changed your choice of university!" Kawahara shouted as he came into Furi's homeroom during the break time. The two of them got into separate class at the third year and now Furihata was sharing the same class with Kagami.

"You changed the university?" Kagami asked while munching a sandwich.

"Yeah, to the Kyoto University," Furihata looked up from the notes he was currently studying.

"I thought you would go to a university in Tokyo together with us," Kagami finished his sandwich.

"A lot of things happened," Furi laughed a bit. He deduced that the dream of the cherry blossoms he had felt like an old memory so it would probably indicate Kyoto and its atmosphere. He knew a lot of town had old memories, but somehow Kyoto seemed very tempting to him. It was almost the Christmas and they were getting closer to their winter break. Snows had not started to fall, but it got very cold lately. Whenever it got cold, he had this sudden urge to play basketball. He had officially retired from the basketball club to fully concentrate on his university entrance exam. He missed basketball, but he could resume when he got into the university.

124 Days

He said goodbye to Fukuda and Kawahara as they got separate ways to home. He focused his attention on the flash cards he was holding while walking down the streets. It was not crowded so he could easily walk without bumping into anyone while studying. Then he saw something red from the corner of his eyes and it got his complete attention. The fashion shop next to him was showcasing a bright red muffler with black squares at its end, on its display. Furihata never had been fond of the color red but somehow he felt like it was beckoning him. He entered the shop to get a look at the said scarf. After being removed from the strong yellow light of the display, he found there was a shade of pink in the red muffler, which was something he did not usually found. He touched the soft material and the sale girl informed him that it was the last piece in stock. Something unnatural, like his sixth sense was urging him to buy it, and he completely decided to believe in it. He tried on the muffler and surprisingly found the color suited him so much. And he felt like it belonged to him right from the start. It was five days before the Christmas and the countdown on his soul mark turned '82' this morning. And unknown to him, a few days after he had left the shop with the muffler wrapped around his neck, a boy, with a mild bronze mark of '124' on his wrist, entered the store looking for the muffler he had taken home.

124 Days

As many people could guess, Akashi Seijuurou was not someone who showed interest in things like soul mate and such. He thought of the soul mate searching period as something unnecessary in life. Why bother about soul mate when marriage was something to make him and his family profit in one way or another. He was willing to marry anyone who was worthy for the Akashi family. However, the fact that his grandfather was really traditional became really troublesome for father already informed him that he needed to find his soul mate even before he was way too young. The Akashi wanted the perfect image. The wealthy, powerful and happy family that every man on earth desired. That was the way of the Akashi. He had no problem with arrange marriage. But, to search for and mate his soul mate was indeed a waste of time for him.

 **The snowflakes fell to earth in a grace manner as they could be. The Christmas displays on the road and shops glittered beautifully. The faint sound of the Christmas songs was flooding around him. A bell chimed. He looked for from where the sound came. Suddenly, his vision was blocked by something red. The red thing suddenly moved away from him. It was a muffler, a red one with black squares patterned at the end. He was not able to see the person wearing it. A silhouette was all he could see. He faced the shop that person came out. He recognized it was a shop in Tokyo as the road sign at the corner indicated one of the roads in Tokyo. The bell chimed again, waking up from his dream.**

When he woke up on the morning of his eighteenth birthday, his left wrist was already marked with a mild bronze tattoo, stating the number '124'. It was unexpectedly short which relieved him in some way.

"Had your soul mark been engraved?" His father, Akashi Masaomi asked from the other end of the phone. The elder Akashi lived in the main house in Tokyo while Seijuurou was currently residing in one of their school dorm.

"Yes, father. I've got 124 days," he replied.

"It was fairly short. Did you dream anything?"

"A fashion shop in Tokyo," he looked out the window. It was chilly, but no sign of snow. However, the weather report stated that it could snow later that night. "I'm planning to visit it soon."

"I expect you to visit it as soon as you can, son. Also come to the main house while you're at it," his father ordered. Masaomi had a happy and beautiful family just like the Akashi's standard. But, it was all before his wife, Shiori died from cancer. Seijuurou was in primary school, when she passed away and their father and son relationship turned a little bitter after it. He knew his son did not believe in love and such thing. He was not the one to talk since he was also no good when it came to stuffs like those. The event happened during Seijuurou's junior high school was also left the boy in a deep scar. He was not a good father. He did not know how to parent his son well. Shiori was the one to balance him out while all he did was placed strict rules and regulations to his son. He truly wished his son could meet his soul mate and find his happiness. He wished the soul mate of his son would teach him and showed him love and affection, which he failed to give his son. Seijuurou replied him with a yes and ended the call. He knew Seijuurou was not bothered to search for his soul mate, but he knew the other person would bring his son great fortunes and love just like Shiori did to him.

124 Days

Akashi made his visit to the fashion shop a few days after the Christmas. After two hours by bullet train and one hour by car to reach the shop, he learned that the last piece of the muffler he saw in his dream just sold out. He felt frustrated. He canceled his schedule for the day and all he got was a slightly feared and apologetic sale girl in front of him. He asked how that customer looked like. The girl filled him in that a boy of average height with brown eyes bought it. But she could not remember anything beyond that as she stated that the customer was fairly normal. He walked out of the store in a deep scowl. He walked around the area and saw the Maji fast-food restaurant that he once came because Kuroko invited him.

 _Kuroko's school might be in this area._ He had never visited Seirin. He knew Kuroko and Kagami had retired from the club after the winter cup. He swallowed the Starbucks he bought earlier and hailed a taxi. He still needed to show up his face at the main house before dinner and return to Kyoto since the next day was a school day.

 _How nice it'd be if his soul mate just pops up before him._

124 Days

 **Julissa: Hey ya! Thanks for adding favorite and following this story. The second chapter is up! I hope you guys will like it.**


	4. January

_**January**_

Kuroko eyed the red muffler Furihata wearing with a bit of uneasiness. Furihata told him he found a sudden liking to the muffler the other day and bought it. The similarity of the color between the muffler and a certain former captain's hair of his was really striking. The brunette was very vocal when it came to his own soul mate searching period and the phantom player learned about both of his dreams. And the boy had been a bit paranoid because he had not got anything after the cherry blossom dream. His dreams worried Kuroko in some way too. The fact that Furi dreamt of a lion and a place he strongly believe to be Kyoto was maybe indicating to Akashi Seijuurou. Kuroko tried to tell him that he was just overthinking. There were many people in the world and the point guard's dreams might turn out not to be related to Akashi at all. The muffler might also be a coincidence.

He was sure Akashi had already got his soul mark since the boy's birthday was two weeks ago. He did not ask the miracles anything about the soul mark or his period. It would be unnatural of him if he asked him those questions and the other boy might suspect something at once. Furihata's period would end in March as the brunette once told him before. His own birthday was approaching and Kuroko could not help but side-glanced Kagami's wrist every time the thought of soul mated came up on his mind. On Kagami's wrist, the number '198' proudly appeared. Kagami got '365' days as his period when he turned eighteen last year. It got a good laugh for Kise, Aomine and Takao that he managed to get exactly a year. How much he himself would get? He could not help but think.

124 Days

"Kuroko, do you have any idea why you appear in my dream?" Kuroko did not know that he would start his birthday with Furihata calling him first thing in the morning. The other boy spoke in a desperate manner. "Don't tell me your soul searching period would end on the 11th of March!" Furihata yelled. Kuroko himself had not got a chance to properly look at his own marking. He switched on the light and look at it.

"How many days do you left, Furihata-kun?"

"40 days," replied the other boy.

"Don't worry. Mine had 183 days." His heart skipped a beat. _Don't tell me!_

"Then why did I dream of you? I saw you and some guys playing basketball," whined Furihata. "Forget it! I'm just probably guilty that I can't make it to your birthday party. Happy birthday, Kuroko!" The boy wished him and ended the call, leaving Kuroko to stare at his phone.

"Playing basketball with some guys?" he murmured. He did plan to play some basketball that day. It had become a routine to play basketball with the miracles in the afternoon and have a party at Kagami's house in evening on his birthday. Akashi Seijuurou came up one his mind. Maybe he would ask his ex-captain about his period later.

"Akashicchi, you only left 82 days before your period ends!" It doesn't need Kuroko to start about the soul mark at all. Kise Ryota being the blabbermouth of the group stated after he had got enough of Kuroko's soul mark. "Who is the lucky one?" asked the blonde cheerfully.

"For your information, I don't know anything about that person at all," Akashi told him in annoyance.

"Eh, it can't be!" whined Kise. "Why are you keeping it secrets? Tell me? Nee, Akashicchi…"

"I'm not, Ryota." Akashi emphasized on his name and Kise stiffened.

"Umm, okay. Just tell me when you met the other person," Kise did not know where to give up at all. "I'm supporting you!"

Kuroko glanced at Akashi as he consumed the water. As expected of Akashi, he did not show any interest in his soul mark and period and comment nothing, unlike Furihata who was an open book when it came to his period. The more people knew it, the more help he could get was the brunette logic. _Their ending dates don't match_. Most of the time, soul mates' period ended together on the same date. That was one of the information to know whether one was your soul mate or not. But, it was not reliable since more than two people could share the ending date. Furihata just told him he got only 40 more days left while Akashi had more than 80 days. _Maybe it's indeed my overthinking._ He pushed his water bottle back into his bag and went to sit beside him. Only Kise and Aomine were using the court at the moment while the others were resting, in Murasakibara's case consuming his snacks at light speed.

"Happy birthday, Kuroko," wished Akashi. He glanced at the wristband which was currently covering Kuroko's pale wrist. "183 days, huh?" He said in an amuse tone. "If I don't wrong, Kagami Taiga got 365 days and it was half a year ago."

"Akashi-kun, will you please keep it silent please?" Kuroko hissed. "I don't want Kise-kun to find out about this and it's not even sure if Kagami-kun is my soul mate or not." He did not get a chance to meet Kagami that day yet and he did not like to get his hope high. "Anyway, I'd be more bother by my own soul mate if I were you, Akashi-kun. Your family wants you to find the soul mate, right?" He knew the Akashi family's logic of wealthy, successful, and happy family.

"It won't be a much problem whether I find him or not," said Akashi.

"Him? Is that a guy? Your soul mate?"

"From what I've learned. I didn't get to meet him when I went to Tokyo last time."

"The guy was from Tokyo?"

"The place I dreamt is in Tokyo. I believed it's near your school." Kuroko shocked. The soul mate might be somehow related to their school?

"Tetsu, Akashi, we're resuming!" Aomine shouted. Akashi tied his shoe lace firmed and got up. Kuroko followed him after a bit.

 _No, it can't be because Akashi-kun and Furihata-kun's ending dates don't match at all._

124 Days

Akashi was annoyed concerning with his soul mate. His father asking him about it did not help him at all. He did not get anything related to his soul mate until that morning. That morning, he woke up with a dream about his soul mate although he became unsure about it at the moment. He had dreamt about Kuroko of all people. In his first dream, he just saw a silhouette, but this time, it was crystal clear that the person in the dream was Kuroko. They were playing basketball. At first, he thought he was just excited to play again with his former teammates, if it was not for the burning sensation on his wrist. His soul mark was emitting soft glow.

He thought maybe his soul mate was Kuroko. This was his eighteenth birthday and Kuroko would also have received the mark since it was already in the morning. However, the three digits on Kuroko's wrists denied his theory. Kise was cheerfully chatting with Kuroko about his soul mark by the time he arrived at the basketball court.

"Akashicchi, Kurokocchi got 183 days!" the blonde informed him while he was putting down his bag on the bench.

 _About 100 days more than mine._ Akashi thought. _Who on earth do I share these 82 days of mine?_ He felt like sighing even though it was not his thing.

124 Days

 **Julissa: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! OMG, I totally forgot to update this fic. So sorry about that! Life has been hard with school works these days and I'm addicted to the Big Bang Theory! Thanks for all favorites and follows and reviews. Each and every one of them make my day! Be sure to click those buttons again in this chapter, too. Love ya!**


	5. February

_**February**_

February had already arrived. It meant it was already the time for the Valentine's Day. Furihata looked at girls whispering what kind of chocolate to give their boyfriends for the Valentine's Day. He wanted to receive one, too. From his soul mate whom he still did not know. He pushed the shopping cart to one of the aisles. His sister dragged him to shop Valentine Chocolate with her. At the moment, Furihata Kyoka was busy choosing what kind of brand of cocoa should be used for the chocolate.

"Kouki, help me decide this,"

"Nee-chan, you always used this brand. Why bother choosing another brand?" he picked up a bag of cocoa powder and put it in the cart. "Now, let's get moving," he pushed his sister a bit.

"Kouki, you're not romantic at all. Of course I need to choose the best of the best for Yuuji," she pouted.

"As far as I know, I'm very romantic. Thanks to you and mom," responsed Furihata. "Here, you need the butter and the whipping cream, too, right?" He had helped the girls of his family with Valentine Chocolate since he was young. He knew the basic drill for making chocolate.

"Sure, sure," his sister laughed. "Why don't you make one, too?"

"For whom? To console myself when I don't get one on the Valentine's?" Furihata pouted.

"It doesn't always have to be the girls to make something special for their beloved one," said Kyoka. "What matters is the feeling whether it is a boy or a girl who makes it. You can always give that to me. Who knows? Maybe you'd meet your soul mate on the Valentine's." Kouki just felt into silence.

He looked at the freshly done chocolate in front of him. He did it, the Valentine Chocolate. He got into it too much after his sister's persuasion. He wondered what he should do with it.

 _Let's put this in the fridge for now._

124 Days

Again, the dreams concerning his soul mate were plain ridiculous. Akashi sourly thought as he stared the pet shop in front of him. He dreamt a Chihuahua, for god damn sake. A red muffler, Kuroko and a Chihuahua. Just what those things indicated about his soul mate? He had no clue where to go or what to do. He just came to the nearest pet shop near his dorm. He opened the door to the shop. The bell at the top chimed. There was only a kind looking man at the counter.

"Welcome,"

"Hello, I'm looking for a Chihuahua," he looked around the shop. "A brown one, if you could."

"A Chihuahua? Of course we have them," the man smile. "This way, please. However, you don't look like a Chihuahua person at all. You look more suited for more fierce looking dogs." Akashi thought the same, too. He had never thought he would go to a pet shop looking for a Chihuahua. After two hours of full lecture on Chihuahua, Akashi came out of the shop empty handed. He became more frustrated than he was before though. He could not go look for a Chihuahua for every pet shop and animal shelter in Kyoto or in Japan. It was just stupid and abstract. A Chihuahua could also be a symbolism, too. He just thought he would gave a try to this soul mate thing since it was a tradition in the family, but he now was very willing to remove that tradition once he became the head of the Akashi family.

124 Days

"Furi, your dreams are so nonsense. First a lion, now a Chihuahua. Seriously?" Kawahara laughed from his seat. Fukuda joined him, too. Furihata's face turned red.

"Guys, I'm serious," retorted the brunette.

"What's wrong with a Chihuahua? It could be found anywhere," said Kagami. Furihata sighed.

"That's the problem, Kagami. They're everywhere. How can I find it if there are too many of it? Even the lion had a high chance in helping me find my soul mate." He glanced at the blue hair boy who was silently chewing on his food without commenting anything. "Maybe I should hit on any Chihuahua owner?" Fukuda and Kawahara's laugh continued. And Kuroko just sat still. He really wished he could get some help from the phantom player since he was the smartest one among them. "Kuroko?"

"I'm sorry, Furihata-kun. I was thinking something?" Kuroko quietly replied. It was very ironic of Furihata to dream a Chihuahua. Unknown to the brunette, Kuroko learnt from Momoi that Aomine called Akashi and Furihata as the Lion and the Chihuahua, during their first time facing against each other. His theory of Akashi and Furihata being soul mates was getting stronger and stronger. But the fact that the periods of the two boys did not end together still puzzled him. It was already in late February. Only about two weeks left before the brunette's time for soul mate searching over. If possible, he wished his friends would find happiness. Furihata had been all gaga about his soul mate ever since they became acquaintances. Moreover, he believed Akashi need more love after all those things happened to him. True, the former Teiko captain had the rest of the generation of miracles, him and the Rakuzan basketball team, but the boy deserved to be loved by a special someone. Someone who would love him and taught him that it was okay to have flaws. Akashi had changed over the years, but still he believed in perfection and such things. Would Furihata be the one suited for Akashi? He did not know. The only thing he could do was hope. But, first of all, he had matters concerning with the two unmatched ending dates.

 _Gosh, I'm having more trouble with their soul mark than my own._

He threw a glance at his wristband covered wrist. He wore it so that Kagami would not take a notice at it. Kagami, being originally dense and not caring about the soul mark did not ask him a question about his. On Kagami's wrist, the number '159' shone just like the same number on Kuroko's wrist did underneath his wristband.

124 Days


	6. March Part I

_**March**_

The fearful month for Furihata finally came, stirring him up in every possible way. The university entrance exam was already quite a big deal, plus the exam of the Kyoto University was not something easy at all. Furihata felt like he was going to go crazy all the time. His stomach hurt. He was a natural born coward and at this point he felt like all of his system was nervous. The fact that he had the exam on his last day of the period made things much worse.

He held his exam pass with a tight grip as he fearfully worshipped the Kyoto University. Entering this university would be a big feat. Maybe he raised his limits a bit too high. What if he could not get in? There were also many universities in Kyoto, too. But he felt like it could not be anything but the Kyoto University for him. Again, it was his sixth sense telling him. He got plenty enough time before the exam started but he entered the exam building just to calm himself a bit down. Although in actual, it made him much worse.

Akashi looked at the tall high building of the Kyoto University. He came a liking to Kyoto after his three years of high school and decided that he would continue his education here in Kyoto. He entered the building in grace as he looked for his exam room. Suddenly, a mop of brown crushed into him. A boy of his age, looking nervous with a bundle of flash cards in his hand was now sitting on his butt on the floor. He could be another examinee. As he thought, Akashi held out his hand to pull him back on his feet while asking if he was okay. The brunette was fidgeting a lot as he thanked him. He thought the boy looked familiar until he realized it was Furihata Kouki from Seirin.

"Akashi-san!" exclaimed Furihata. He went to take a piss before the exam started and just bumped into the absolute emperor of high school basketball. They had faced each other for some time last two years so he knew Akashi might realize who he was. "Are you taking the exam here?" He asked just for pleasantries.

"Yes, I believe you're, too." Akashi replied. "I thought the Seirin third years would go to universities in Tokyo."

"Well, yeah. Most of them are, but I decided to apply here," Furihata answered while fidgeting. He was already nervous s enough on his own, bumping into Akashi was a no good. He felt hot. His heart was pacing like a taiko drum and he could seem to see straight. Everything around Akashi was sparkling. "If… if you excuse me," he ran away before Akashi could speak. He knew it was rude, but at the moment when he felt like the world was breaking he did not care about it at all.

The brunette left. Akashi stared him in disbelieve. He had this unknown foreign feeling left inside his stomach. He knew he was not nervous for the exam. He never was. Furihata Kouki did certain effect on him. The air around him felt like burning. Then he realized it was his left wrist that felt like burning. The mark of '42' shone brilliantly. He never felt the mark reacting strongly like that before. He again stared into the space where the Seirin point guard had disappeared. _Don't tell me…_ He wanted to follow the he ignored that feeling as he found out the exam was going to start in fifteen minutes. It was not wise to deal with it when both his possible soul mate and he were going to sit for the university entrance exam.

Akashi left the exam room a bit early than he intended to. The thought of Furihata might be his soul mate was bothering him so much. It did not affect him in the exam but he felt like he could not let it slip. He went around looking for the room the other boy was taking the exam. Finally, the bell chimed and one after another the students rushed out. He was not able to locate him in this sea of examinees. He went to the campus ground to look around for Furihata. The brunette might take a tour of the campus. But with no luck, he found nothing.

 _DIdn't he feel anything? Maybe he's not the right one?_

He was an athlete. Running around the campus was no big deal, but his mind was consuming him. He even double checked the basketball court. He pulled out his hand phone and dialed the only person who could help him right now. A moment later, the call was answered.

"Hello, Akashi-kun," greeted Kuroko Tetsuya.

124 Days

"Yes, mom. I'm telling you I did great," Furihata laughed. He was a nervous wreck before the exam but as the exam started he felt unnaturally calm. The questions were from what he had studied and he had never felt this good after exam. The only alarming thing was his body burning up a bit during it. "I'm gonna board on the train. See you later," he ended the call and put the phone back into his bag.

He went to see the cherry blossoms after taking the exam. The park near the campus had a great amount of cherry blossoms blooming. It indeed looked like the scenario from his dream. He spent like an hour walking around the park in case his soul mate was around. He realized the burning sensation he was having was actually from his wrist. Even now his skin felt hot if he touched it. _Is it because his soul mate was around? Or is it because it's his last day?_ He wanted to cry. The thought of not having to meet his soul mate hurt him so much. He gazed at the clear wall in front of him in a daze, not realizing that the phone in his bag was vibrating crazily.

 _He's not picking it up!_ Akashi pressed the train pass on the sensor in a hurry while looking at his phone screen. He called Kuroko and asked for Furihata's number. Kuroko was at first amazed, but he gave him informing only one thing. Furihata's phone was busy before and now he was not picking it up.

"Akashi-kun, it's ending today. Furihata-kun's period that is. He got 124 days and today is the last day if I'm not wrong." He remembered the conversation he had with Kuroko. It was ridiculous. How could Furihata's soul mate searching period end today when he got 42 more days left. However, both of them getting exactly 124 days was strange. He might be wrong about the brunette being his soul mate but something was forcing him to search for the boy. The train to Tokyo was already arriving when he rushed towards the JR line. Most of the passengers were already boarding. It's too crowded to find the other point guard. And he did not know in which coach Furihata was in.

Furihata settled down in his seat when he pulled out his phone to see too many miss call from an unknown number. He decided he would call back and pressed the button. But the connection in underground was weak and it was not connecting. He looked at the platform. People were rushing and moving very fast. He ended the call as there was no signal. The pretty lady's voice from the speakers emerged to state the doors to the train were closing in a moment. It was when he felt something unusual. He stood up from his seat and rushed towards the closing doors.

His heart stung. It made his chest hurt. He winced. But he could not turn back. The mark on his skin felt like it was burning. He looked at the crowd before him. Too many people. How would he find the right one? The automatic doors were closing before his eyes. The train started to move. He wanted to scream. One word, just one word was enough so that the person would hear him. He desperately looked out the glass window. He stiffed. It was just a mere second, but he felt. He felt that their eyes met. Red! He saw only for a moment but those eyes were red. The same piercing stare he dreamt before lingered on him a bit then the train accelerated. His legs finally gave out. He cried while crouching on the train floor. Other people gave him weird looks, but he did not care. He was finally able to meet his soul mate, even it was just for a second. He thanked the god for letting him see the other person before his searching period was over.

 _Farewell, my soul mate._

Akashi stiffened as the chocolate-color irises gazed at him. Their eyes met. Those brown eyes were like desperate as if they were drowning. His heart began to ache more. If this heartache was what it meant to have a soul mate, he did not want to meet his soul mate at all. He was scared. For the second time in his high school life, he felt scared. He was scared of losing his soul mate. He was scared of the throbbing of his heart underneath his chest. He was scared of the burning sensation on his skin. The train started to move, leaving him on the platform.

124 Days

 **Julissa: Gosh, I'm so behind my schedule. I had my finals last month and then a student exchange program until a few days ago. And AkaFuri day is in two days I haven't wrapped up the story, yet. But the good news is it's a double upload today and I'll be writing my best to finish this on AkaFuri day! So, R &R please nee… **


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